Jackson Jambalaya

This is tough, but the Penn State library will remain named after Joe Paterno to remind everyone inside to keep quiet.

Slap on the wrist.

8:29 LOL

This is punishing the wrong people. Taking championships away from players who had nothing to do with the transgression is not right. Also, punishing the newly signed and presently playing guys is not fair. Punish the ones who are guilty severly, but don't slop it over on everybody.

Bobby wins? Ha! No way! The NCAA doesn't like him either. We're back to the NCAA-approved worship of Eddie Robinson of Grambling again at 408 Wins (Actually John Gagliardi of Division III St John's, MN has the most NCAA football wins with 471, but you'll never hear about him)

The buffoons who bitch about the wrong people being punished have their heads up their asses. No matter what penalty is dished out there will be collateral damage. The only real, lasting damage is to the victims of the Sandusky-Paterno debauchery.

Next 10:49 and her ilk will suggest the man who had the contract to manicure the ground around the statue will be put at a financial disadvantage.

I just wish Joe Pa had lived long enough to appreciate these sanctions.

I agree with Marylin. The current players are hurt the most. The NCAA will continue to portray themselves as deity all the while "using" student athletes for financial gain for a select few and the media. History will tell the story of the corruption of the NCAA.

This entire tragedy is about one man who committed horrible crimes against children and another man who covered it up. One is going to prison for the rest of his life and the other is dead. Yes, the others who participated in the coverup should and will be punished for their criminal acts, but it was Paterno who decided Sandusky's activities should be kept under wraps. The current players, coaches, fans, etc., didn't commit any crime or violation of the rules and shouldn't be included in the punishment.

Bill, I don't think your statement that only *one* man (Paterno) covered up for Sandusky is borne out by the evidence.

The blame for these penalties should fall squarely on the men who perpetrated the cover-up. If the "players, coaches, fans, etc." have been injured, it was done by Spanier et al., not by the NCAA.

Bill:
You miss the point entirely. The issue here is two pronged:

One is that Paterno became larger than the job itself. The entire program evolved into a cult of personality. You can argue that the same thing happened at some spectacular implosions in the corporate world: WorldCom, HealthSouth, etc. No one was willing to question his authority, even those he reported to. It was widely reported that in 2003, the BOT sent emissaries to Paterno to quietly tell them it was time to retire. He effectively fought them on the issue and won. So who was working for who at that point? In a lot of ways, a similar thing happened at Auburn and the President of the University lost his job while Tuberville kept his. The world had become upside down, and no one knew how to get it right again. That is the very DEFINITION of "Loss Of Institutional Control". There is a reason they give the death penalty for such a charge. It allows things like Sandusky to happen.

The second issue is the appalling lack of moral compass on behalf of the program and those who ran it. They simply put the value of the program over the value of the children. Short answer: They fucked up.

And your argument that the current players "shouldnt be included in the punishment" is ridiculous. The program is taking the punishment, and just deserved. The players have more choices than ever: they can transfer, stay on scholarship and not play, or stay and play. How are they being punished? And how would you suggest the NCAA or the University punish the program without affecting the status of the players?

Bill: You miss the point entirely.
...
And your argument that the current players "shouldn't be included in the punishment" is ridiculous.


Everybody misses the point but you. We are so lucky to have you here keeping us all straight with your lengthy missives.

To me, the punishment, more or less, seems to fit the bill. The NCAA had to on one hand avoid being too lax in the face of a horrifying circumstance and a huge, wide-spread breach of trust, and on the other hand not go overboard in punishing the students, players, and other innocent stakeholders. They body-slammed 'em, but at least they didn't give 'em the "death penalty."

They should have given them the death penalty, in my opinion. That program should have ceased to exist for the next few years on Penn State's campus as a reminder that football, or any other sport, is never worth the cost of failing to protect a child.

Bill and a few others seem to forget the behavior modification model employed decades ago by our fourth grade teachers. When she returned to the room and found paper airplanes and erasers all over the floor and fake poop on her desk, the entire room missed recess for three days. Last time it ever happened. There has never in the history of sports been a sanction levied that did not at some point penalize someone who probably was not involved at all.

Is there something semetrical about PSU taking it the pipe here?

They should have dished out the same level of punishment for the Aints

Loyal PSU fan still pining for JoePa.

http://youtu.be/QmCeV7vTe-U

Taking away his wins? That's a joke. He either won the games or he didn't. The NCAA is some real badasses, slapping around a dead man who can't defend himself.

This is what happens when you get too many lawyers involved in football--the whole thing becomes a farce.

If the man can't be punished it's fitting to punish his legacy.

How do you suggest he might 'defend himself'?

Pug

Don'cha just love the Aints?

By the way Crowley, the commish did not 'take away Paterno's win record', he took away the wins of the school's football team. Paterno, as is fitting, was simply collateral damage. Once again, though, your comment is evidence that Paterno is bigger than the team, the assaulted boys and the school. All about Joe Pa and his hallowed legacy.

Whoever it is that carves little statues should do one of Joe and put him right up there on the mantel with all the (other) Catholic heirarchy who have allowed pedophiles to go unconvicted for a hundred years.

The NCAA will never levy another death penalty.

To echo part of what Crowley said...I think when lawyers get involved with anything it becomes farce.

The players are NOT hurt. Read the sanctions. They are free to leave and immediately play for another school.

The town businesses will be hurt, but they also benefitted from a corrupt program's success...ill gotten gains.

I think Penn State should have gotten the Death Penalty.

The town businesses will be hurt, but they also benefitted from a corrupt program's success...ill gotten gains.

You are deluded.

2:25, you say I missed the point but in your next paragraph you make my point for me. Paterno was a bully who was covering up for Sandusky. Paterno ran the scam and told the university officials what they were going to do. He's beyond punishment, and the others who participated certainly need to pay for their inability to stand up to him, but the rest is PR to make the NCAA look good. Curley and Spanier? No one will remember their names in six months, and I've already forgotten name of the finance guy. This is about Sandusky and Paterno, not a bunch of players and fans.

The kids in class analogy is good, but if applied to this situation then every college (the other kids in the room) should give up scholarships and bowl games (recess) because of Penn State. Setting the example for other schools? Do any of you really think that's necessary? Are other schools going to cover for a child molester if they think they won't get severe punishment? Don't be ridiculous. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I also know how much it means to be able to play college football at the university you've loved all your life. There are kids who will be affected by this who weren't even born when Sandusky was prowling the showers at Penn State. If everyone who ever deified a college football coach should be punished then we'd better kiss the bowl games goodbye because about twenty programs will be instantly ineligible.

It will be interesting to see if any changes are made to show more control over college coaches. Mack Brown is making $5 million a year at Texas and didn't even go to a bowl game last year. Think he doesn't have some influence off the field? They don't have to be in perennial powerhouse programs either. Kirk Ferentz, Bill Snyder and Frank Beamer are long time successful coaches who probably could run as much of the show as Paterno did, and most casual football fans don't even know where they coach. When a university is willing to pay that kind of money to a coach they're sending the message that football is WAY more important than anything else. Will the Penn State debacle cause schools to come to earth on their coaches' salaries? No. Urban Meyer will still leave Bowling Green to go to Utah and Utah to go to Florida and end up making millions doing it. Cut their pay if you really want to convince us that the coaches aren't kings.

Shadow, I personally don't give a rip about Paterno's legacy. My problem is with the pure dishonesty of changing wins to losses. The score is what it is. To change a legit win to a loss is simply a fallacy. And quite silly.

As for the NCAA pissing on the grave of a dead man, we will never know how Paterno would have defended himself, with him being dead and all.

The NCAA would never take this action against a prominent coach that was still living. The last time the NCAA tried to destroy a living coach's career and legacy it was Jerry Tarkanian, and he put a decade-long ass whipping on them that they still haven't forgotten.

Stan Caldwell:Did NCAA do the right thing to Penn State?

Arguing along the same lines of Did the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure do the right thing to Dr. Arnold Smith?

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20120726/SPORTS/120725022/COLUMN-Did-NCAA-do-right-thing-Penn-State-?odyssey=nav%7Chead

How so 9:45am? Do you really pretend that the businesses at College Station didn't prosper on home game weekends? Do you contend that a winning team doesn't draw larger crowds than a losing team? Do you really think this cover up wasn't all about winning football games and the money that means to a school? How many mothers would have let their sons sign with a school that allowed a pedophile free access to the showers?

The monetary losses would have been much smaller and short term had the Penn State administration and Paterno acted swiftly and ethically,but if this wasn't about the money...what the hell do you THINK it was about?

Do you think Paterno, Curley et al were all members of a man/boy love club?

Money gained from covering up a scandal is " ill gotten".